Reply by AgentTwitch

Thanks everyone. All very good points. I will build the bench as though it will be my only bench, perhaps slightly taller than i think it should be and will take it from there. I will stick with the 2×12 fir.

As for the features, i had made up my mind to build a shaker style bench with a cabinet of drawers in the base, square dogs, face vice, traditional sliding tail vise and also a benchtop bench.